Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
One of the current market mysteries is why people are paying approximately $2 for $1 of bitcoin. After MicroStrategy discovered it could buy bitcoin in a recursive loop using money raised by selling shares and weird convertible debt at a premium to its net asset value, lots of companies have been doing the same thing.
One of those companies is UK-listed, sort of. The Smarter Web Company trades on Aquis Exchange, the specialist junior venue, as well as a few US over-the-counter exchanges. It floated on Aquis on April 25, raising £1.1mn at 2.5p per share, at a market capitalisation of £3.7mn.
The Smarter Web Company now has a market cap of £377.7mn. It’s the biggest stock by value on Aquis, having gained 7,300 per cent in six weeks. If moved to the main market it would be on the fringes of the FTSE 250 index alongside Halfords, Asos and YouGov.
Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.
To be clear, The Smarter Web Company isn’t just a bitcoin treasury company. It also does web design and digital marketing services. Founder and chief executive Andrew Wembley started the Guildford-based SME in 2009 after quitting as head of digital at Hargreaves Lansdown. It’s been profitable since foundation, according to investor presentations, but having only ever filed results as a small or micro company it has never had to publish a profit-and-loss account.
Wembley and family hold 13.4 per cent of The Smarter Web Company shares, which today have a paper value of approximately £50mn.
The biggest shareholder, with 19.1 per cent, is a bitcoin hedge fund called 210k Capital. The fund manager, UTXO Management, is one of many bitcoin-related enterprises run by Tyler Evans. As well as publishing Bitcoin Magazine and organising The Bitcoin Conference, Evans is part of the team that’s converting Nasdaq-listed healthcare group KindlyMD into a bitcoin treasury company to be renamed Nakamoto.
Evans is The Smarter Web Company’s only non-executive director.
The Smarter Web Company’s third-biggest shareholder, with 10.4 per cent, is this guy:
We are the fastest growing PLC in the UK this year and the UKs first bitcoin treasury company we need to promote this more in our tweets. And be proud it’s a British company we are backing. We even invented the steam train 221 years ago.
🚂🇬🇧🇬🇧LFG!
— Andy Smith (@andysmith_asap) June 11, 2025
Here’s the reason I’ve been quiet today.. new tattoo pic.twitter.com/JOTpwwOqc5
— Andy Smith (@andysmith_asap) May 19, 2025
Having already raised money four times since IPO, the Smarter Web Company announced today it holds 242.34 bitcoins. Its crypto pot has a spot-price value of £18.8mn.
Buyers of this stock are paying more than £20 for £1 of bitcoin.
We should all know how this ends. We just don’t know when.
Further reading:
— This is nuts. When’s the crash?
https://www.ft.com/content/80019dab-78ab-4dbd-b6c5-a54ce953532f
